-45

I have learned recently that I can delete my account and start a new one. Now there are some rules to this for example if you are in a suspension the suspension and/or ban would continue under the new accounts. Some of my SE accounts were beyond repair even by a moderator, so I deleted a couple after my question ban was over to see if it helped. It seemed like it did.

The deletion was not automatic and had to be reviewed and approved I guess because I had to wait 24 hours. Who does that task? Am I breaking any rules or circumventing the system (no where in the details does it give reasons or rules) or am I utilizing tools available to me by the system in the way the designer intended?

Note: I do not condone circumventing or exploiting the SE system in any way and that I only did this as a last resort to fix my accounts. I returned to Aviation.SE and asked some questions and did very well. I was also suspended but at least it wasn't for a year this time.

From moderators in Aviation.SE:

We've noticed that you deleted your old account and created a new one to circumvent the question block that the system imposed on you. Moreover you used this new account to ask several questions, many of which show that you still have not learned to use this site properly. This circumvention of the rules and disrespect of the community is not tolerated. We have temporarily suspended your account; you may return after 30 days.

Regards, Aviation Stack Exchange Moderation Team https://aviation.stackexchange.com/users/38881/muze

Anti-Recidivism System Added

[...] We log data on such accounts at time of deletion, which is then referenced should a new account from the same individual be created. If the user was suspended at the time of deletion, then the new account will inherit the remainder of the original suspension. If the user was blocked from posting questions at the time of deletion, then the recreated account will be restricted to posting only one question per week until the quality of their contributions is demonstrated. [...]

I did show high quality in Aviation and this did not affect me.

16
  • 15
    You're clearly circumventing the system. You know you're circumventing the system. Yet you proceed with this ridiculous post. So yeah, have a downvote from me.
    – n8te
    Apr 30, 2019 at 2:54
  • 15
    @Muze: "I only did this as a last resort to fix my accounts" ... what was broken about your accounts? If you were question banned, that's not a problem that should be "fixed"; you were question banned for a reason, and that doesn't go away just because you change your name. That is the very definition of circumventing policy. Apr 30, 2019 at 2:57
  • 10
    @Muze: "even when I asked a good question and got an up vote and still got a question ban glitch" That's not a glitch; that's how the question ban system works. The fact that someone upvoted a question of yours doesn't automatically mean you get unbanned. Apr 30, 2019 at 3:00
  • 10
    @Muze: Yes, that's why. Think of it like having a criminal record; it doesn't just go away because time passed since your last offense. "I would not been approved to do so, No?" I have no information beyond your word as to you being "approved" to recreate your account. My guess is that you misinterpreted a user who was merely saying that this was the only way to get out of a question ban that bad. That is, you probably weren't being given permission, any more than someone saying that the only way to get rich quick is to rob a bank is giving you permission to commit burglary. Apr 30, 2019 at 3:07
  • 8
    @Muze: Yes, but you are still you; the ban was aimed at you, not the account. That's why you got suspended. Apr 30, 2019 at 3:10
  • 9
    Yes, it violates a rule. The one that says you should not knowingly circumvent system-imposed restrictions. I'm pretty sure the message from the Aviation moderator team already made that clear. If you're just looking for confirmation, consider it confirmed. Apr 30, 2019 at 3:18
  • 9
    @Muze: It should be noted that you already know that this is considered circumventing the question ban, since you asked a previous question, and the accepted answer spells this out explicitly. Apr 30, 2019 at 3:19
  • when a question is considered unacceptable, the only course of action is to improve the question until it represents to others what it represents to you. the system is correctly designed to reflect this. so yes, anyone using a new profile to wipe their slate is completely undermining this system.
    – ocæon
    Apr 30, 2019 at 3:26
  • 10
    The deletion was not automatic and had to be reviewed and approved. - Where did you get this? Your deletion was fully automated. It was deleted at the conclusion of the 24 hours and no human other than you was involved in the process.
    – animuson StaffMod
    Apr 30, 2019 at 3:36
  • there's no substitute for improving. if the improved question becomes unrecognisable to the answers then the change in meaning must be accounted for too. for instance an answer describing a term that was then removed from the question would need a note about how you used the wrong term and why.
    – ocæon
    Apr 30, 2019 at 3:41
  • 10
    Just to say. If you're on a Qban now, and delete and recreate just to ask a new question and it works, you've evaded a penalty set by the system - and that's against the rules. Considering how hard it is on MSE especially, there's certainly a lesson to be learnt
    – Journeyman Geek Mod
    Apr 30, 2019 at 4:54
  • 3
    @Muze Yes, your profile here on meta would require approval. None of the other profiles you deleted required approval, though. That message is not applied network-wide. It is specific to each site.
    – animuson StaffMod
    Apr 30, 2019 at 4:58
  • 2
    @muze The question ban is FOREVER. But, as a "faint hope," you get to ask one more question every 6 months. If that question is good enough, you might get un-banned, but if it's bad or merely so-so, the ban will still be in effect. Apr 30, 2019 at 5:26
  • No, not broken... if you have a lot of bad questions, you need more than one ok one to balance them out. Also, most of the times I've seen you complain about the 6 month thing, your one question hasn't been very good. Apr 30, 2019 at 5:32
  • 8
    cross-site duplicate: So you got banned? No problem, just create a new account (or not?) "doing so violates the rules for operating multiple accounts - namely, it allows you to do something you would otherwise be restricted from doing. Penalties for violating this restriction can vary..."
    – gnat
    Apr 30, 2019 at 9:44

4 Answers 4

24

Yes, it violates the rules. As was pointed out in the comments, you've been told this before, right here on Meta.SE.

It confused me on Aviation.SE when I saw the New User flag on your name, since I knew you weren't new. I'd say you're lucky the Aviation mods only gave you a 30-day suspension, based on your posts across multiple SE sites and your repeated attempts to get around bans, I'd have made it much longer. (I think the EE.SE mods did the right thing the last time you got out of hand there.)

I know this is a waste of time, but here's a list of all the things that I've seen that are wrong with your questions. Not every question has all of these problems, but most have at least 2 or 3 of them. If you want to stop getting banned and suspended, you need to not post questions with these problems!

  1. You ask vague, conceptual questions, "would this work?" without being clear about why you think it's worth doing whatever and what it would mean for it to work.
  2. You almost always have links to other SE questions, outside sites, and include pictures that have no apparent relevance to your question. I think you've finally stopped including animated GIFs, but you rarely explain why you've included a link or picture.
  3. You load your questions with unneccessary jargon, e.g the one where you were asking about melting ice on Mars and specificied a "waste heat thermoelectric nuclear generator."
  4. You edit your questions endlessly, but still leave spelling and grammar errors in them.
  5. You often edit your questions into different questions, invalidating existing answers.
  6. You ask questions on the wrong site, e.g. asking questions that should be on Physics.SE on Space or Aviation or Chemistry (because you're banned on Physics) Or asking about EE moderation on ServerFault...
  7. When you ask for help, you conveniently ignore what you've already been told. e.g. you've been told (I've seen it!) about the pictures and the jargon, but then you do the same thing on Aviation.SE and get a bunch of questions downvoted and then you ask "why?"

Actually, you did it in this question... you say "Overall I did learn and my new questions were very well-received." That's only half true. You had 2 or 3 questions that did well, but then you asked another 2 or 3 that weren't.

0
18

You've asked this before, and justify the circumvention as, "It's too harsh", or, "I can never work my way out of the ban". The question ban is not a glitch. It was never a glitch. It's supposed to be hard to get out of it, as warnings didn't work. It's meant to make you sit up and notice, and treat questions like the consumable resource they are. Deleting and recreating an account to circumvent the question ban is an abuse of the system. You were allowed to ask one question on Aviation. Not two, not several, one. You bypassed that, so, yes, getting suspended is to be expected.

This is a common theme for your behaviour. You continually post low quality questions, complain when you get suspended, and ask others to explain why that is. That's how this chat played out. And this one. And likely countless more.

The long and short of it is, you will be treated as an adult, and you are responsible for your own actions. That means owning your actions, and living with their consequences. At some point, I don't think it's reasonable to blame others, the system, or votes for the consequences that occur.

Like Shog said; people don't like it when they have to clean up after you. This is more cleaning up, and, honestly, people aren't telling you anything new at all. You've been told all this multiple times. Heck, I've told you this before. I'm having trouble seeing any learning going on here.

0
14

So, here's a really important point - we need to look at the totality of the situation.

If you're creating a new account to try to get out of past issues, that's not really what its meant for. And honestly, unless you actually understand what you're doing wrong - which doesn't seem to be the case, there's no point.

The deletion was not automatic and had to be reviewed and approved. Who does that task? Am I breaking any rules or circumventing the system, or am I utilizing tools available to me by the system?

The first bit's done by the CM team - and is aimed at reducing the impact to others assuming you have significant contributions to the site. Based on what Animuson said in the comments, it was automatic. That of course is under the assumption that you're deleting the account because you don't intend to be involved in the site for at least the medium term. The 24 hour grace period in question is for you to change your mind if you didn't want to leave.

As for breaking the rules - if your intent is to get around a question ban, clearly you are. To steal a metaphor - if you have an overdraft at a bank, chances are closing and reopening your account won't clear that overdraft.

And honestly? I sense the frustration from the mods - and that's not something that happens overnight. And seriously considering the number of sites that you seem to have these problems at, you really need to look at what you post and why, and spend energy on that, than trying to find loopholes, legal and mechanical.

I have talked to many people in support trying to trouble shoot this issue and this was the choice given to me. It also resulted in loosing any progress I made.

Essentially - the problem is in the posts you are posting. Nothing we can do there. As for progress - well if you're trying to wipe out the bad bits, the few good bits go too. If the good things overwhelm the bad, we have no problem.

3
  • future question bans do still rely on past results. And you might have gotten it confused with your periodic grace question. I mean, how many sites do you have this problem with?
    – Journeyman Geek Mod
    Apr 30, 2019 at 3:23
  • 1
    First person I've ever seen complaining about the question ban system who isn't question-banned on Stack Overflow. That's gotta be some kind of record, right? Apr 30, 2019 at 3:38
  • 2
    @muze It's more than 3 or 4, I've seen you complain about questions bans on more sites than that, and there aren't really that many sites that I follow! Apr 30, 2019 at 3:49
12

Bans apply to the human behind the account, not the account.

So simply tell the mods on any stack where you think you might've been banned, and say

Hey mods. I wanted to give you a heads-up that I (new account) am the same human as me (old account). So if you have any bans on (old account) that are still applicable, please copy them onto the new account. Thanks!

Done!

Now if doing this puts a big lump in your throat, and conflicts with the purpose of creating a new account, then you are exploiting/circumventing, yeah.

13
  • 1
    It doesn't, @Muze, because it assumes account deletion is leaving the site, and not coming back. Suspensions are for when you don't want someone to contribute for some time. Account deletions are not meant to circumvent the restrictions originally placed on you.
    – fbueckert
    Apr 30, 2019 at 17:29
  • @fbueckert so you may never return? I'm not sure about that. I read don't return until you learned to write a good question and I did that. meta.stackexchange.com/questions/234609/…
    – user312109
    Apr 30, 2019 at 17:31
  • 2
    @Muze That's what account deletion is meant for. Using it for your purpose is an abuse. Again, this doesn't need to be spelled out; you know this. You've been told this multiple times, by multiple people. I highly suggest re-reading much of the feedback you've received over the years, and apply it. Whenever you have another question, read it again. Also, read the first link in the question you linked to. Anti-recidivism-system The system that deals with users who request deletion in order to evade restrictions that are placed on their accounts at the time of deletion.
    – fbueckert
    Apr 30, 2019 at 17:31
  • When you were doing all the misbehavior to get banned, did you not realize that a real ban that actually stuck was a potential consequence? Or are you still trying to figure out that whole "actions have consequences" thing? Apr 30, 2019 at 17:33
  • @Muze It's not okay. It was never okay. There's a system in place specifically to catch users who do it.
    – fbueckert
    Apr 30, 2019 at 17:36
  • One time? My impression is you have a very long history of questions with many downvotes, that indicate you did 0 research and didn't bother reading the help pages on what questions are allowable. Apr 30, 2019 at 17:36
  • @Muze Please, quote the section that says it's okay to delete and recreate an account to bypass restrictions.
    – fbueckert
    Apr 30, 2019 at 17:40
  • @fbueckert to me without a time limit or guidelines to follow on the deletion page how am I suppose to know I can't change my mind the next day. It was there and I used it.
    – user312109
    Apr 30, 2019 at 17:42
  • 4
    @Muze You're going to be treated as an adult. You don't need the implications of an account deletion to be spelled out to you. Additionally, you've already been told, several times, by many people, not to delete and recreate an account, and that it would end badly.
    – fbueckert
    Apr 30, 2019 at 17:46
  • @fbueckert I have no common sense like that. I see a door and I walk through it. This is all I got to go by: meta.stackoverflow.com/a/285981/5786922
    – user312109
    Apr 30, 2019 at 17:52
  • 5
    @Muze If you are unable to follow that actions have consequences, might I submit that SE is not for you? You are not absolved of your actions, and you are expected to conform accordingly. As for the post you linked, did you read it? It specifically states that your account can be deleted without warning, along with other consequences. Nowhere in there does it say it's okay to delete and recreate.
    – fbueckert
    Apr 30, 2019 at 17:55
  • @fbueckert Would be nice to be included on the deletion page.
    – user312109
    Apr 30, 2019 at 17:57
  • 5
    @Muze Again. You are treated as an adult. It's been explained to you multiple times. It didn't need spelling out then, and it still doesn't now. Also, you already tried the argument that the system lets you, so it's okay, and were shut down.
    – fbueckert
    Apr 30, 2019 at 17:58

You must log in to answer this question.